Sports

Gautam Buddha Nagar, May 23 (IANS) Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University, HP University, Shimla and Adamas University Kolkata won their respective matches on the opening day of kabaddi competitions that started a few days before the inauguration of the Khelo India University Games 2022.

While the whole of Uttar Pradesh and India await the official opening ceremony of the Games on May 25, Kabaddi kicked off the first competitive day of the games amidst much fanfare at the SVSP Sports Complex, Gautam Buddha Nagar.

The day began with a heartbreak for Atal Bihari Vajpayee Vishwavidyalaya University (ABVVU), Bilaspur as they lost 28-41 to Chaudhary Ranbir Singh University, Jind in their opening league match of the women's category at the Noida's Shaheed Vijay Singh Pathik Indoor Sports Complex.

For ABVVU, Sanju Devi did most of the work in the initial stages of the preliminary round match. However, her hard work couldn't help her snatch a victory for her team as they fell short of the overall match strategy. On the other hand, ABVVU's opponents from Jind changed their strategy to check Sanju Devi and were successful as both teams were neck to neck with three minutes left on board. At this crucial juncture, the team from Jind shifted gears to tighten their grip over the match and raced ahead to a 41-28 win.

In the second match in the women's category, HP University, Shimla beat HCY University, Durg 51-29.

The university from Shimla pressed hard from the start and raced to a 29-11 lead in the first half of the match. The team from Shimla added another 22 points in the second half, while the Durg side tried hard to close the gap but weren't able to recover the lost ground.

In the men's side, Adamas University Kolkata struggled hard against Guru Kashi University, Talwandi Sabo as two of its players got injured halfway through the first-round match. Kolkata lost 29-35. The final match of the evening saw Kota University walk away with an easy 28-23 win over SRM University, Chennai.

--IANS

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Dubai, May 23 (IANS) The International Cricket Council (ICC) has charged West Indies international all-rounder/keeper Devon Thomas with seven counts under their anti-corruption codes and he has been provisionally suspended with immediate effect for his alleged involvement in attempts to fix matches in Lanka Premier League, Abu Dhabi T20 and Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

The ICC has taken this action on behalf of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) and the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

The ICC, in its capacity as the Designated Anti-Corruption Official, has charged Thomas under the SLC Anti-Corruption Code for Participants (the SLC Code), the ECB Anti-Corruption Code for Participants of the T10 Cricket League (the ECB Code) and the CPL Anti-Corruption Code for Participants (the CPL Code), cricket's world governing body informed in a release on Tuesday.

Devon Thomas has been accused under Article 2.1.1 of the SLC Code of contriving or being party to an agreement to fix or attempt to fix, contrive or influence improperly the result, progress, conduct or other aspects of matches in the Lanka Premier League 2021.

He has also been charged with failing to disclose to the Designated Anti-Corruption Official, without unnecessary delay, full details of an approach or invitations received to engage in Corrupt Conduct in the Lanka Premier League 2021.

Under Article 2.4.6 of the SLC Code, Thomas has been charged with failing or refusing, without compelling justification, to cooperate with the Designated Anti-Corruption Official's investigation by failing to provide accurately and completely any information and/or documentation requested by the Designated Anti-Corruption Official.

Under Article 2.4.7 of the SLC Code, he has been charged with obstructing or delaying the Designated Anti-Corruption Official's investigation into Corrupt Conduct, including (without limitation) concealing, tampering with or destroying any documentation or other information that may be relevant to that investigation and/or that may be evidence of or may lead to the discovery of evidence of Corrupt Conduct.

Thomas has been charged, under Article 2.4.4 of the ECB Code, with failing to disclose to the Designated Anti-Corruption Official, without unnecessary delay, full details of an approach or invitations received to engage in Corrupt Conduct at the Abu Dhabi T10 2021.

As per Article 2.4.4 of the CPL Code, Thomas has been charged with failing to disclose to the Designated Anti-Corruption Official, without unnecessary delay, full details of an approach or invitations received to engage in Corrupt Conduct in CPL 2021.

Under Article 2.4.2 of the CPL Code, he has been accused of failing to disclose to the Designated Anti-Corruption Official (without unnecessary delay) the receipt of any gift, payment, hospitality or benefit (a) that he knew or should have known was made to procure a breach of the CPL Code, or (b) could have brought the player or the game of cricket into disrepute.

Devon Thomas has 14 days, from May 23, 2023, to respond to the charges.

Devon Thomas has represented West Indies in one Test, 21 ODIs and 12 T20 Internationals.

--IANS

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Rourkela (Odisha), May 19 (IANS) Delhi Hockey and Hockey Chandigarh registered wins in their respective games on Day 2 of the 13th Hockey India Sub-Junior Men's National Hockey Championship 2023 at the Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium here on Friday.

In the first match of the day, Delhi Hockey defeated Assam Hockey 5-2 courtesy of Afridi (8', 11', 26', 34'), who scored four goals. Also, Aryan (58') netted a goal to contribute to Delhi Hockey's win. For Assam Hockey, Ritik Patir (23') and Rohit Yadav (40') scored a goal each.

The second game of the day witnessed Hockey Chandigarh register a comprehensive 19-0 win against Hockey Rajasthan. Gurpreet Singh (3', 8', 23', 24', 29', 48', 51', 55', 56') scored nine goals, while Prabhjot Singh Saini (22', 44', 45') netted a hat-trick. Also, Pankaj Sharma (26', 36') and Gurjeet Singh (52', 60') scored a brace each, while Sukhpreet Singh (5'), Sukhmanpreet Singh (13'), and Suraj Kumar Sah (56') were also on the scoresheet.

Earlier on Thursday evening, the Hockey Association of Odisha defeated Hockey Maharashtra 18-0 in the fourth and last match of the Day 1 of the tournament.

Deonath Nanwar (16', 35', 36, 40', 49') ended the game as the top scorer with five goals to his name, while Deepak Pradhan (14', 19', 25', 44') scored four goals.

Moreover, Yojin Minz (11', 26', 33') netted a hat-trick, while Irengbam Rohit Singh (3', 28') scored a brace. Bilkan Oram (18'), Sudarsan Goud (13'), and Yumkham Bidyananda Singh (43') also scored a goal each for the Hockey Association of Odisha.

--IANS

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By Niharika Raina
New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting stated that with the proliferation of T20 franchise cricket leagues around the world, he is unhappy over the landscape of the cricketing world veering more towards tournaments in the shortest format.



2023 has been a year in which T20 leagues in UAE, South Africa and soon-to-be in the USA have cramped cricketing calendars, apart from a plethora of T10 leagues mushrooming around. It has meant that various stakeholders in the cricketing world are worried about the future of international cricket, mainly Test matches.

"It is getting a harder story to tell, I must admit, with the amount of white-ball cricket the younger generations are actually seeing. The landscape of cricket is definitely changing to become a more domestic-based T20 team which I am not happy about."

"As a young boy growing up in Tasmania, all I wanted to do was be good enough to play a game for my club team, my state team and hopefully play for Australia in the Test format."

"Test cricket is still a benchmark for a cricketer, and to have a long-established Test career is how we judge players. Test cricket is the pinnacle, and I was lucky enough to play 168 Test matches which suggests I like it very much," said Ponting on the sidelines of the official curtain-raiser event of the WTC Final between India and Australia, to be held from June 7-11.

Ponting also feels the International Cricket Council (ICC) should play a role in ensuring that players from not-so-big Test-playing nations are paid well to play the longest format of the game.

"That question has a different answer in different countries. It has become increasingly difficult to groom the youngsters in the Caribbean (West Indies) for instance who want to chase the dream of playing Test cricket."

"The payment system in the Caribbean compared to some of the franchise leagues, it doesn't match up and Sri Lanka will be the same and Bangladesh will be the same. It is not the case in India, England and Australia though."

"You are paid well to play Test cricket for your country and most aspire to play the Test match game. There is a role to play for the ICC here and make the payments a bit more even across international Test cricket to attract players from these different countries who want to play for their country."

"It is something that has been spoken about at a very high level at the ICC to help that. But in India, the feeling I get is that most of these youngsters aspire to wear the baggy blue cap and the same is in Australia too," he added.

Quizzed on what needs to be done to increase the number of women's Test matches, Ponting remarked, "I think it is very simple as far as women's cricket is concerned -- they have to play more. The Australian women maybe play only one Test match a year, and they are probably one of the best sporting teams in the last 10-12 years."

"To promote the game, they need to be playing more and by more, I mean not One-Day cricket but Test matches. We would love to see Australia's women's team play a Test against India a lot more, and that is where as a young woman growing up, you will learn, and before you know it, we have attracted a lot of women to play," he concluded.

--IANS

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New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) Having suffered many setbacks in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Delhi Capitals will be hoping to end their season on a positive note with one final win.

They defeated Punjab Kings in an away match at Mohali in the penultimate round and are all set to take on Chennai Super Kings in their last match of IPL 2023 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, here on Saturday.

Speaking ahead of that game, Delhi Capitals' Assistant Coach Shane Watson said, "We certainly have a lot to play for as a franchise and individually. Hopefully, we can perform really well and take confidence from our win against Punjab Kings."

Watson also said that the IPL 2023 season has played a big part in the development of young players in the DC camp.

"There has been a lot of progress and development for the younger Indian batters during this season. We've been working with individual players to help them grow as fast as they can. This year has played a big part in the younger players' development; hopefully, we've set them up for the upcoming seasons." Watson was quoted as saying by the franchise in a release on Friday.

After a disastrous start to the season in which they lost five successive matches, David Warner's Delhi Capitals recovered to win four matches in the next five games to recover a bit. But two successive losses against Chennai Super Kings and Punjab Kings, at home, meant they slumped out of contention.

Now their only hope for the season is to win their final league match and restore some more pride.

--IANS

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Lucknow, May 17 (IANS) Marcus Stoinis' unbeaten 89 off 47 balls and Mohsin Khan's brilliant bowling display in the final over helped Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) register a thrilling 5-run win over Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the Ekana Stadium, here on Tuesday.

With this win, Lucknow jumped to the third spot in the points table with 15 points and edged closer to sealing their plat-offs berth with one league match to go.

Riding on Marcus Stoinis' unbeaten 89 off 47 along with skipper Krunal Pandya's 49 off 42 LSG put up a good total of 177 runs on the board.

In response, MI were off to a flying start. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan were scoring runs at a brisk pace on a slow track and set a solid platform with their 92-run opening stand. Then, LSG turned the tables in the middle overs and MI struggled in the second half of their chase.

Tim David tried his best to get them over the line, but could not get the job done as Mohsin successfully defended 10 runs in the final over to hand his side two crucial points.

Chasing 178, Ishan and Rohit provided a strong start to MI, hitting four maximums and three boundaries as MI scored 58/0 in the Power-play.

When Ishan was continuing with his strokeplay, Ravi Bishnoi and Krunal Pandya brilliantly kept MI's run rate in check and LSG came back in the match in 10-15 overs.

In the 10th over, Rohit picked up Bishnoi's quicker googly and paddle-scooped it over a short fine with supreme ease for four. The spinner quickly bounced back and removed the MI skipper to break the 90-run opening stand and also completed his 50 IPL wickets.

Soon Ishan brought up his fifty with a boundary and followed that up with another four. But Bishnoi didn't let him stay longer at the crease and trapped him with a googly. Ishan went for the pull shot. It flew off the edge and went to deep square leg where Naveen-ul-Haq settled under it and took a sharp catch.

After a few silent overs, Yash Thakur cleaned up the in-form Suryakumar Yadav cheaply for seven. Then, David and Nehal Wadhera collected two boundaries and MI were reeling at 125/3 in 15 overs and 53 needed in 30 balls to win.

A couple of overs later, Mohsin piled up further miseries with the wicket of Wadhera on the first ball of the 17th over and the equation read 39 off 18 balls. The next over, Yash overstepped and Tim David got a free hit. After one run coming off the free hit. Thakur removed Vishnu Vinod on a short ball.

David almost turned the tables in the penultimate over, hitting Naveen-ul-haq for two sixes and a four as the equation came down to 11 runs from the final over.

Then, Mohsin held his nerves and defended 11 runs with his well-executed Yorkers, giving just 5 runs off the over as LSG wrapped the win by 5 runs.

Earlier, batting first, LSH had a torrid start as Jason Behrendorff's double strike in the second over sent the opener Deepak Hooda and Prerak Mankad on two successive deliveries to reduce LSH to 12/2. With Quinton de Kock's couple of sixes and Krunal Pandya's boundary, LSG were 35/2 at the end of the Power-play.

Piyush came into the attack on the next over and picked up a wicket on the first ball of his spell. While the MI bowlers dominated the proceedings, Stoinis and Krunal steadied the innings with their 82-run stand.

Krunal was experiencing cramps while running and retired himself in the 16th over, falling one short of his half-century. Then, Stoinis took MI Bowlers to cleaner, taking 54 runs off the last 3 overs to take LSG to 177/3 in 20 overs.

Brief scores:

Lucknow Super Giants 177/3 in 20 overs (Marcus Stoinis 89, Krunal Pandya 49; Jason Behrendorff 2-30) beat Mumbai Indians 156/5 in 20 overs(Ishan Kishan 59, Rohit Sharma 37, Tim David 32 not out; Ravi Bishnoi 2-26, Yash Thakur 2-40) by 5 runs

--IANS

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New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) The chief coach of the Indian men's hockey team, Craig Fulton is all geared up for his first assignment with the team as they will travel to Europe for the FIH Pro League 2022-2023 with the matches starting May 26.

In the FIH Men's Hockey Pro League 2022/23 matches played so far during the home leg played in Rourkela last year, the Indian team put up a solid performance and remained unbeaten against reigning World Champions Germany and Australia, which helped them climb up to top of the points table.

Now, under the guidance of Fulton, who joined the team at the India national coaching camp at Centre, Bengaluru on April 29, the Indian men's team will aim to continue their winning momentum as they take on reigning Olympic champions Belgium (May 26 and June 2) and hosts Great Britain (May 27 and June 3) in London.

The Indian team will then travel to Eindhoven, the Nehterlands to take on hosts and world No.1 Netherlands (June 7 and 10) and conclude their campaign in the prestigious nine-team competition with ties against world No.7 Argentina (June 8 and 11).

Speaking on the team's preparation during a virtual press conference on Tuesday, Craig Fulton, who has nearly 25 years of coaching experience, said, "We had intensive running and conditioning sessions in the build-up for our upcoming competitions. Moreover, we are focusing on the group of players who have been selected to play in the FIH Pro League in Europe and they are being trained in a certain way."

"Players are riding high on confidence courtesy of their brilliant display in Rourkela, where they defeated Australia and Germany. They also understand what I want from them and are performing well in training, which is definitely a good sign for us as a group ahead of our upcoming Pro League matches," he added.

Fulton further said that the FIH men's hockey Pro League 2022/23 in Europe will be a great opportunity for the team to compete against top-ranked teams and further improve their overall game ahead of the 19th Asian Games in China, which is a crucial tournament apropos the qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

"Our priority is to win the Asian Games as it will ensure our direct qualification for the Paris Olympics. So, in that sense, FIH Pro League, as well as other lined-up tournaments including Asian Champions Trophy is of vital importance for us as they will not only enhance our preparations but also help us emerge as the title contender in the Asian Games in China later this year."

Ace drag-flicker and defender Harmanpreet Singh will lead the Indian team during their upcoming matches in Europe, while prolific midfielder Hardik Singh will serve as the Vice-Captain.

Meanwhile, Skipper Harmanpreet said there will not be many changes from the structure and tactics that the team implemented during their Pro League matches in Rourkela.

"Our performance against Australia and Germany was a big confidence booster for us, hence we will aim to follow the similar structure that we followed in Rourkela. However, the Chief Coach has instructed us to focus on solidifying our defence, so, we are preparing accordingly," Harmanpreet said.


The schedule (all times IST):

May 26: India Vs Belgium at 1900 hrs

May 27: India vs Great Britain at 2130 hrs

June 2: India vs Belgium at 1900 hrs

June 3: India vs Great Britain at 1700 hrs

June 7: India vs Netherlands at 2300 hrs

June 8: India vs Argentina at 2030 hrs

June 10: India vs Netherlands at 2100 hrs

June 11: India vs Argentina at 2100 hrs

--IANS

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By Chetan Sharma
New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) Feints are one of the minute details in boxing that separate world-class fighters from others. The technique helped India's young sensation Deepak Bhoria (51kg) achieve a historic feat at the World Boxing Championships in Tashkent.



Deepak went down fighting to two-time World Championships bronze medallist France's Bilal Bennama 3-4 split verdict in a close contest, but the Haryana lad believes that he has learned his lesson well.

Speaking to IANS on Tuesday, the World Championship bronze medallist shared his struggle-filled journey.

"I was out because of my right shoulder injury (January 2022). I worked really hard and learned how important it is to be patient. I made a comeback in January this year, and now a bronze medal in the Worlds. It feels really great but yes still a long way to go. My last bout was good but there might be a reason that I lost…will work on it and change the colour of my medal next time," Deepak said.

"There is always room for improvement and I believe I learned a lot during my injury period. It was tough but I kept myself calm and focused."

Asked about the areas he worked on, the 26-year-old pugilist said, "I was focusing more on strength...Yes, speed and endurance are equally important."

Before the World Championships, the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) appointed Dmitry Dmitruk as the Indian boxing team's foreign coach. And last year, former Irish professional boxer Bernard Dunne was named the high-performance director (HPD) for Indian boxing. Dunne, who had a five-year (2017-2022) stint with the Irish Athletic Boxing Association, replaced Santiago Nieva of Spain.

The appointments seem impressive as Indians won a good number of medals in both men's and women's World championships.

Enquiring about the tips he got before the championship, Deepak said, "We were working on the feint (faking a move) method. Feinting helps you keep opponents guessing, which inevitably opens them up for attacks. It's when you show your opponent an intention to do something, but then you do something else."

"We are learning new methods and thanks to the Boxing Federation of India for providing us with all the facilities," he said.

Deepak's achievement has left in doubt Amit Phangal's place in the squad for Asian Games. It will be interesting to see how things unfold in the coming days. But so far, Deepak is in!
From 'newspaper vendor' to becoming 'news' himself!

In 2008, when Deepak was just an 11-year-old he started boxing at the insistence of his uncle. His father was a constable and his mother, a homemaker, who also worked on the farm. Life was never easy.

In 2009, due to dire financial constraints, young Deepak was forced to quit boxing as he couldn't afford the expenses of diet and training which were a must to ensure he had a good physique and mental training.

His dream of becoming a boxer was almost over, but his coach, Rajesh Sheoran helped him back into the ring. He helped him by paying his diet and training expenses. In 2011, when everything seemed to move smoothly, Deepak was struck by a mighty blow where he suffered a career-threatening fracture to his right hand. The fracture continued to trouble him for almost two years before he underwent surgery.

While everything looked uncertain about his professional career and he had started doubting himself, that injury gave Deepak new perspectives. While he was unable to move his right hand, he slowly strengthened his left, which he says helped him a lot now as he is equally deft at fighting with both hands.

Despite the downhill that boxing faced with a dearth of competitive tournaments, Deepak never gave up. He continued with training but in 2015, life threw in a fresh set of challenges for the pugilist. The financial crisis was something that continued to haunt him, so much so that the boxer had to work as a newspaper vendor to sustain himself.

Finally, in 2016, there was some silver lining in the dark clouds. He joined Madras Engineering Group (MEG), Bangalore, and later that year, he also was selected by the Army Sports Institute, Pune. Since then, he has never looked back. His financial crisis was taken care of and his career saw an upswing. Deepak won a gold medal at the 2018 Senior National Championship and in 2019 he won a gold medal at the Makran Cup on his international debut.

Deepak carried that confidence into the 2019 Asian Boxing Championships and stormed into the final, where he had to settle for the silver in a tight match that went in favour of Nodirjon Mirzakhmedov of Uzbekistan 3-2.

He announced himself on the global stage in 2021 when he defeated the 2016 Rio Olympic gold medallist and 2019 World Champion Shakhobidin Zoirov of Uzbekistan at the Strandja Memorial tournament.

2022 was a tough year for Deepak as he sustained an injury in his right shoulder in January and almost spent the whole year on the sidelines because of that.

Deepak has been one of the most improved and developed boxers in recent times. And his recent achievement in the 51kg Flyweight category at World Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, has raised India's hope in the next major tournaments.

--IANS

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Ahmedabad, May 16 (IANS) Gujarat Titans became the first team to enter the playoffs of the IPL 2023 with a comprehensive 34-run victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Monday night and former India wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel is impressed with the batting technique of Shubman Gill, who played a match winning century knock.

Gill's sparkling knock of 101 (58b, 13x4, 1x6) and his 147-run partnership with Sai Sudharsan (47 runs, 36b, 6x4, 1x6) for the second wicket helped Titans put up a stiff 188/9. In reply, SRH were never in contention and were reduced to 59/7 in 9 overs before they pulled things back slightly and finished at 154/9 in their allotted 20 overs.

Paceman Mohammed Shami ran through the SRH top order, taking 4/21 while medium pacer Mohit Sharma finished with 4/28 in a brilliant bowling display.

The win took the Titans to 18 points in 13 games and they are now assured of a top-two finish while SRH were stranded at 8 points from 12 games and joined Delhi Capitals in bowing out of the tournament.

"What I enjoyed most was seeing him use his technique. All the shots that we saw, had him let the ball come to him. He didn't try and whack it and it allowed him to successfully find the gaps. When you play on a bouncy pitch, you have to let the ball come to you. That's how you control the ball and hit where it needs to go. When he was set, he was able to get a century. He has hit centuries in T20, ODI, and Test cricket at this ground," said JioCinema IPL expert Parthiv Patel about Gill.

Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar became only the second bowler this season after Mark Wood to take a five-wicket haul, proving to be a small bright spot in an otherwise disappointing evening for SRH.

Former India pacer RP Singh praised Bhuvi's experience and skill, while highlighting the importance of pitching length of the ball.

"We talk about the importance of length and how it can enable a five-wicket haul. If you can bowl a gutter-length ball, you should take a wicket there… Taking five wickets is very special for any bowler at this stage in the competition. This has only happened twice this season. The skill of bowling and what makes you special is your experience. You can read a batter with your experience, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar has done so in this match," Singh said.

On the other hand, Australian pacer Brett Lee praised the Titans' commitment, saying: "I think they have been really well led by Hardik Pandya. Didn't get the chance to bowl, I am hearing the workload reason as the reason why he's not bowling, which is disappointing. But the fact they keep winning without one of their strike bowlers, it's good for them. Every player is stepping up and doing their own thing and contributing to the team's success, which is great for them."

--IANS

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London, May 12 (IANS) It promises to be another dramatic weekend in the Premier League with virtually everything still to play for; from the title down to the battle to avoid relegation.

League leaders Manchester City don't play until Sunday afternoon, which is surprising given they have the second leg of their Champions League semifinal at home to Real Madrid on Wednesday night, and Pep Guardiola's side needs as much recovery time as possible.

Guardiola didn't make any substitutions during Tuesday night's Champions League first leg and the players who were on the bench in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, such as Phil Foden, Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and Julian Alvarez can all be expected to start on Sunday, a Xinhua report said.

Everton produced their performance of the season on Monday to win 5-1 away to Brighton and climb out of the bottom three, and looking at the rivals sides such as Leeds United and Leicester City still have to face this season, one more win might be enough to keep them up.

Brighton is Arsenal's next rivals in another Sunday game, and coach Roberto De Zerbi will have to tighten up in defense after the horror-show against Everton that has derailed their European hopes.

Depending on Man City's result at Everton, Arsenal could have a chance of going back to the top of the table, or need a win to stay just a point behind. It promises to be thrilling between two sides that play similar styles of attacking football.

Leeds United dropped into the bottom three last weekend after losing to Man City and desperately needs to take something from third-place Newcastle United.

It will be an emotional game for Leeds coach Sam Allardyce, whose sacking by Newcastle in early 2008 was arguably the most painful moment in his career, even ahead of losing the England job.

Defeats to Brighton and West Ham and Liverpool's return to form mean Manchester United have to beat Wolverhampton to avoid danger of dropping out of the top-four.

Wolves travels to Old Trafford with nothing to play for after securing their top-flight survival, while United is still without players such as Raphael Varane, Scott Mac Tominay and Lisandro Martinez.

Liverpool visits third from bottom Leicester City on Monday night, with the home side struggling in defense and with just one win in their last 12 games, after shipping five goals to Fulham in their last outing.

Chelsea hosts Nottingham Forest, who are only three points above the bottom three. Chelsea claimed their first win since Frank Lampard's return last weekend, but the mood among fans isn't good and Forest may have a chance of vital points in a bad-tempered Stamford Bridge.

Bournemouth's 39 points will probably be enough to keep them up for another year in the top-flight, but a win away to Crystal Palace would be enough to ensure survival, while Southampton looks doomed to relegation even if they can claim a win at home to Fulham.

Aston Villa and Tottenham both play their last card to keep their slim hopes of qualifying for Europe alive, although even if Villa does fail to ensure European competition, their form since the arrival of Unai Emery in November means the Midlands club can look forward to next season with optimism.

Finally, Brentford entertains West Ham in a London derby, with the visitors probably clear of relegation, but needing another win to assure their survival after a difficult campaign.

--IANS

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